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Author

Abstract

Giving up a certain amount of control can be healthy, productive, and natural. Nature has an important part to play in our lives, and nature is random even as it obeys natural laws. In the same way, creating ceramic objects requires obedience to the laws of nature even as it benefits from freedom from control. Creation requires a certain amount of letting go of control, allowing nature to take its course, and recognizing when good things happen. I have learned that my most successful pieces emerge when I combine conscious control with serendipity. The work in this show reflects that symbiotic, natural relationship between control and serendipity, and it grew out of my struggles with unrealized expectations. I tend to be a problem solver, sometimes obsessively, and as I've worked through various surprises, challenges, disappointments, and disillusions, I've come to realize that I have little control over life's situations. I have learned to rely on the tender mercy of a greater designer and to value the less-than perfect; those lessons have influenced my ceramic art.